A Malibu couple has sued an insurer over their Dume Drive home that was destroyed by the Woolsey fire for allegedly unreasonably delaying and underpaying their insurance claim.
“Strained by California fire claims, State Farm undertook a conscious course of action to delay the Gibbs's claim and others like it to conserve its cash reserves,” wrote plaintiff’s attorney Samuel Bruchey in the complaint. “This strategy involved refusing to pay for legitimate losses as evidenced by ample documentation such as that provided by Richard and Linda.”
Richard and Linda Gibbs allege in their lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against State Farm that they have been unable to rebuild the home and restore their lives since the fire a year and a half ago.
“This case is a clear example of how an insurance company puts profit over the interests of the people it claims to protect,” Bruchey told the Southern California Record.
After their home burned down on Nov. 9, 2018, the couple submitted a detailed inventory list and provided two estimates of the cost to rebuild the property, but, the complaint alleges State Farm made little to no effort to fully resolve the claim and provided them with no reasonable basis for its failing to timely process their claim in accordance with California laws and regulations.
“Anybody buying insurance needs to worry and should be reluctant to put blind faith in insurance companies because they say they're going to protect you in television commercials and talk about being a good neighbor but when it comes down to helping rebuild your life after a catastrophic loss, they're nowhere to be found,” Bruchey said.
The complaint further alleges that in every insurance policy there exists an implied duty of good faith and fair dealing that an insurer will do nothing to injure the right of the insured to receive the benefit of the policy but that State Farm breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing owed to the Gibbs.
“State Farm didn't do what it promised to do in the insurance policy that was issued to the Gibbs,” Bruchey said. “It didn't protect them. It didn't pay their claim in the amount that was due. It didn't pay their claim in a timely basis. Here they are two years after the fire and State Farm hasn't even paid the benefits that the policy promises.”
Defendant’s attorney Sandra E. Stone answered the complaint with 24 affirmative defenses including that the damages, if any, were caused by the plaintiff’s comparative fault and that recovery, if any, should be reduced or barred.
“Plaintiffs have failed to mitigate their alleged damages and such failure approximately caused and contributed to those alleged damages,” Stone wrote. “The insurance benefits due and owing to plaintiffs, if any, are limited by the terms and conditions of the policy including but not limited to policy forms, exclusions, endorsements, deductible clauses, measures of indemnity and policy limits set forth hit there in.”